As if everything were programmed from above, the rain stopped, the artificial snow began to fall and the mayor of Vigo, Abel Caballero, became trilingual for yet another year, truffled with English, Spanish and Galician every sentence of his "planetary" inauguration of Christmas.
Under the 35 and a half meter tree of lights ("the best Christmas tree in the world"), surrounded by his 19 councilors and before thousands of spectators, the local ruler began the countdown: "
Ten, nine, eight, seven
, six, five, four, three, dous, one, zero!
I started Christmas on the planet!”.
Then John Lennon and Sting sounded, and the councilors began to sway intertwined from one side of the red platform to the other.
"Long live Vigo, long live Vigo, long live Vigo," the mayor cried as he made the V for victory with his fingers and the flakes and red and white confetti —like the city's flag— mixed above his head.
“Once again, this year the
International Space Station
is up there, at the zenith, to broadcast to the planet,” he said through the micro Caballero, and “as a novelty, the
James Webb Telescope
is going to photograph the most extraordinary things: the galaxies and the Vigo Christmas”.
If, as the mayor says, world Christmas begins when the countdown clock installed in Rúa do Príncipe goes to zero days, zero hours, zero minutes and zero seconds, Easter was officially and universally inaugurated this Saturday night. late at seven.
Although the euphoric politician's speech delayed the moment in which he planted his hand on the red button that lit the 11 million LEDs in 400 streets for a few more minutes.
The figure exceeds that of previous years and defies the electricity bill, inflation and even the man who unleashed the war in Ukraine.
"If we took away Christmas, Putin would win," the former Minister of Transport, Communication and Tourism came to proclaim with Felipe González in an interview on La Sexta.
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The date on which the Energy Saving Plan of the Government of Pedro Sánchez came into force coincided with the date chosen by the also socialist mayor of Vigo and president of the FEMP (Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces) to announce the first details of the 2022 Christmas campaign. Faced with the criticism that arose when he said that the largest city in Galicia was not going to give up its light ecstasy, Caballero assured that electricity consumption would be reduced by 14.5%, because it It will cut the daily lighting by one hour, limited to the period from 6:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. (except on holidays, when the light bulbs will go out at two in the morning).
In addition, as the mayor repeats, "the cost of LED lights is very less, very less, very less."
Since the end of summer, Caballero has defended his figures and has ensured that the cost of his Christmas lighting, "60,000 euros", is less than that of "a medium-sized football field, with around 30,000 spectators, during a month of January" ;
"To put a case, that of Valladolid", he has come to exemplify.
On other occasions, he has compared it to "half a grant to a basketball team."
And he has also said that the "extra cost" compared to previous years "due to the high cost" of electricity "will be 15,000 euros on a [municipal] budget of 300 million", a figure that seems "irrelevant" to him because " it would be the subsidy to a neighborhood association”.
For Caballero, what must be taken into account, when measuring this expense, is the "very important economic return" due to the flood of tourists:
"We will get millions of people in," he always promises in his speeches.
The City Council estimates that visitors will be about 2.2 million.
Capacity of 9,000 people
In Vigo there are different opinions about this exorbitant Christmas, exacerbating for some.
Even among those who this Saturday, shortly after finishing lunch, went to save a place, under a sea of umbrellas, so as not to be left out of the limited capacity of 9,000 people who could attend the mayor's show live.
These are years of viral fires and you never know what you might miss if you choose to see it broadcast on the giant screens scattered around the city, or by
streaming,
or on Televigo.
Among the fans, some are still not very clear that this electricity consumption is not a contradiction when the energy crisis hits.
But others agree with the politician's arguments about the benefits of tourism and fear a horizon without Abel Caballero.
"The mayor has just turned 76," recall Carolina Alonso and Rebeca Márquez, residents of the Coia neighborhood who keep several
selfies
taken with the ruler on their mobile phones: "What will become of Christmas in Vigo when he retires?" .
David Giráldez, a resident in the center of the city where most of the odds and ends, the Ferris wheel, the roller coaster, the ice rink, the Christmas market and the giant figures of light come together, believes, however, that this "disrespect" that It lasts two months, it can be "quite unbearable": depending on "how isolated the apartment is, whether you live in a first or eighth floor, on the mood and state of health" of each person.
"For those who live further away, the problem is another," he points out: "Going in and out of Vigo or crossing the city is an adventure, an obstacle course, with the center invaded, traffic diverted and streets closed."
But the restaurateurs are happy.
According to Jaime Pereira, president of the Vigo Hotel Association (Ahosvi), this weekend the occupancy is 100%,
